A lesson in learning
by TravelingMystery
Summary: Sam has decided to learn Dutch, and Castiel creates a game to help him learn. What happens when Dean overhears their conversation?


This story has been updated to include the correct spelling and forms of the Dutch words with the help of Anoniemmus from Archives Of Our Own. Thank you for the help.

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Sam sighs and sets his book down firmly. "I don't know why I thought I could teach myself Dutch. It isn't like there's anyone around here who speaks it." From the other chair in the living room, Dean chuckles and looks up from his hunting magazine. "Where's the fun in that, Sam. You said you wanted a challenge, and it seems to be challenging you. By your logic you should be happy." Castiel looks up at Sam from the kitchen table where he was working on coloring a picture in a book. It didn't matter to him if the brothers teased him about liking coloring books designed for human children. He found them fascinating. "I speak Dutch, Sam. Angels can speak every language, though some come more easily. I am fluent in Dutch. English and Dutch are both Germanic languages. They can be quite similar. If you wish, I will help you practice." Sam let out a small breath, not meaning for it to sound as much like a laugh as it did. "Yeah Cas that would be great. Why didn't you tell me earlier that you spoke Dutch?" Castiel grinned as he set down his coloring and then stood up. "You wanted to learn it on your own. Come with me Sam. We will walk around the house for me to find things that can give you hints if you need them." He walked Sam into the kitchen. Dean couldn't help but look over the top of his magazine at them. Witnessing an angel teaching his little brother a foreign language was something that not many people could honestly say they had seen and with how stressed Sam had been, Dean would be lying if he said he didn't hope Sam made some sort of humorous mistake.

While standing in the entrance to the kitchen, Castiel's eyes fell onto his coloring book of farm animals sitting on the table. "The first thing I will do to help you is determine what level your Dutch is at. It will not help you if I use words you have not learned yet." He smiles up at Sam. "Please translate the following sentence into English. 'Het is een langzaam schaap.'" Sam's eyes widened at the sentence Castiel chose to start with. He remembers reading those words but he knew he was rusty on them. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Langzaam sounds like long, and sap is juice so 'it is a long juice'?" He frowns and looks at Castiel. "That doesn't make sense." The smaller man shook his head softly. 'Langzaam means slow and I said 'schaap' not 'sap'. It should have been 'It is a slow sheep." Sam lets out an angry huff. Once he heard the answer it connected inside his mind. Of course that is what the angel had said. "That makes a lot more sense." He mutters more to himself than Castiel. If that was only the first question, he didn't want to imagine what would come next and he was angry at himself for getting the words mixed up. "Ok, next question." He says with a sigh. "Let's get this over with, Cas." Castiel frowns at the sudden dark sting of Sam's words. "That was simply to assess your auditory skills, Sam. You have been reading from a work book. You know that reading and listening use different parts of the brain. It is alright that you got the words confused. They do sound similar. The next questions will be easier and use words that do not sound so close to another word." He said softly, feeling bad for suggesting to help Sam once he saw how stressed the young man stressed he was with his attempt to learn a new language. As Castiel looks around, his eyes settle on Dean, and he grins. Dean's eyes widen as he realized he'd been caught watching them so he forced himself to ignore them and go back to his reading. Castiel looks back to Sam before pointing at Dean and saying "De man leest de krant." Castiel said clearly. Sam relaxed, feeling more confident after hearing a question he knew the answer to. Even if Cas didn't mind him getting an answer wrong, he still felt like he was letting down the angel when he did. "The man reads the newspaper." Sam said with a small smirk at Dean whose face went red and he raised the magazine to cover his face, more uncomfortable that at least Castiel knew he wasn't actually reading than he was with being a part of their game. "It's not a newspaper, it's a magazine." He muttered as he continued to pretend to read from it. Castiel smiled proudly up at Sam when he heard the answer and nodded before leading Sam back to the kitchen.

He washed his hands at the sink before speaking to Sam again. "It is lunch time so I will be making lunch for us as we continue to work on your lesson, Sam." As Castiel got out three plates from the cupboard he lined them up side by side before offering Sam the next sentence to translate. "Wij hebben brood." He reached for a bag of bread to place two slices on each plate, and turned only when Sam started laughing. "Ok, now you're making this too easy for me Cas. We have bread." He grinned. "Come up with something harder." He said leaning against the counter, beginning to actually enjoy the game. Castiel smirked as he got the items he needed from the fridge. "De eend heeft een kleine staart." Sam's eyes widened as he looked around the room for clues as to what Cas may have looked at the come up with the sentence. He frowned when he saw that Castiel wasn't looking at anything and instead continues to make sandwiches for them. "One of those words is 'duck' I know that much. Either the duck had something that's small, or something has a small duck. Behind his magazine, Dean let out a small snort of laughter. That comment was well worth the not so subtle eavesdropping into the conversation. It was the type of comment he had been hoping to overhear from Sam. Castiel nods. "The duck has a little tail." He said as he finished preparing their lunches and brought them to the table.

Dean sets down his magazine and after washing his hands he joined Castiel and Sam at the table, hoping that Sam doesn't make any funny comments while he is drinking liquids. It may be hilarious for him, but he knew if he spat his drink at Sam his little brother could easily pin him down and beat him in a wrestling match. Castiel takes the napkins and passes one to each Sam and Dean. "I have only three more sentences prepared for you at this time, Sam." He said as he sat back down. "De jongens eten kip." Castiel takes a bite of his sandwich as he looks to Sam, waiting for an answer. After taking a bite of his own sandwich Sam asks him "The boys have chicken?" Castiel grins and nods. "Yes you do, Sam. That is correct. I could have also added 'Ik ben vegetariër' but you already know that and that is why I said 'the boys eat chicken' and not 'we eat chicken'" He smiled at Sam. "That is one of the words that is quite close to the English translation. Vegetariër... Vegetarian. They are close." Dean chuckles softly and shook his head while listening to Cas rant. If no one stopped him, he would go on until he wore himself out and that was one time when having an angel live with you wasn't the best thing possible. Cas required very little sleep and Dean knew it. If he let him, Cas would go on for hours into the night. Finally he spoke up mostly to save himself from listening to Cas list all the words he knew that sounded similar.

"You said you have two more questions for Sam?" Castiel jerks at the sudden voice, tugging him from his train of thought. "Yes. I did but I have decided to combine them into one more sentence." Sam set down his sandwich and nodded. "Alright I'm ready. Last one. Hit me with it, Cas." Castiel frowned in confusion. "They are words Sam. They do not have a physical form with which I could hit you even if I wanted to." He shakes his head slightly. "Jullie eten de boterham, en ik ga weg." Sam narrows his eyes in concentration only to be distracted almost immediately by the sound of Dean coughing. He jumped up out of instinct to raise his brother's arms over his head and help Dean clear his throat. With his brother's love of taking unusually large bites of food, it wasn't unheard of for Dean to get a piece caught in his throat. After Dean coughed up the bite of sandwich he took a sip of water. "Don't you dare." He said looking straight at Cas. Castiel raised an eyebrow at Dean. "I am not doing anything Dean." Dean shakes his head. "Don't give me that. You've been using examples of things going on here to help Sam. You just told Sam 'You eat the sandwich and I leave. Don't you dare leave." Sam looked between Castiel and Dean unsure whether he should separate them or push them closer together. His decision was not made any easier when Dean stood up, his hands clenched into fists. Slowly Castiel followed Deans lead and stood up. "Dean, I am not leaving." He slowly walked closer to Dean. When he was close enough, Dean wrapped Castiel tightly in his arms and pressed his forehead to the top of the angel's head "don't leave us." He said quietly. "You have been using true sentences to help Sam. Don't leave us." He said as he held Castiel closer to him. "Why would you say that if you weren't going to leave us… leave me." Dean closed his eyes tightly. While he hated to admit how insecure he was, he knew that both Sam and Castiel already knew one of his biggest fears was the angel leaving them. Castiel shook his head as he held onto Dean. "I do not wish to leave you, Dean. That was an example using a word that I saw Sam read earlier today." He spoke softly, his hands reading on Deans back as he feels Deans hands clench at the back of his coat. "Dean, I finally have a home with you and Sam. I am happy here." He said keeping his voice calm and even. It hurt him to know how fragile the older of these two young men were and he pressed his forehead into the other man's neck. "I want to stay here with you and Sam." Dean relaxed and let out a soft sigh of relief as he heard the angels words. "I want you to stay here too, Cas. You're part of our family. We're two brothers and an angel. You're stuck with us." Castiel smiled as he held onto Dean. "I am happy to be here with you Dean, but I do have one question. How did you know what I said?" Dean chuckles and pulls back enough to look Castiel in the eyes. "I did some reading in Sam's text book last night while he was sleeping so I could help him today with his Dutch."

Sam rolls his despite the grin on his face. "You two need to work harder on your coordinating, but I appreciate the help. Thank you both." He said to them. Dean pulled Sam up to bring him into a group hug. "You're welcome, Sammy. You're my little brother. You make up one third of our broken little family." Dean smiled at Sam before turning to Castiel who nods in agreement with Dean. "This is my perfect little family." He said as he hugged the two brothers tighter to him, feeling happy and safe. He would do anything to protect them and in that moment he knew they would do anything to protect him as well. Sam smirked as he looked down at Dean. "So I'm thinking about starting to learn Russian." Both Castiel and Dean respond at the same time. "No!" they shout, as if trying to stop a young child who was about to do something dangerous. Sam can't help but laugh. "Relax, I was joking." He said. Dean rolls his eyes and huffs. "You're lucky that I love you, Sam." Sam chuckles softly. "I know I am, Dean. I love you too."


End file.
